Reality Check

Welcome Azure! Q&A from the Experts

Today at PDC we announced the new Azure Services Platform, Microsoft's cloud computing strategy and product platform.

I can't tell you how hard this team has been working to get this ready for PDC and into developers' hands. Although it's limited in release right now, we're working to get it to the users we can, gather the feedback, and make it even better going forward.

I met with some of these guys a few weeks back and hashed out some of the main questions around Azure, so check out the outcome of this session, below. I'm really focused on this part of the platform (around web development), but I tried to summarize what I thought folks would want to hear about.

If you have questions, please put them in the comment section, and I'm going to try to get the team to respond to them later this week, so stay posted here for more info. Also, there's a whitepaper available on the right sidebar here - for those interested.

Enjoy!/LC

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Q: What is the Azure Services Platform?

A: The Azure™ Services Platform (Azure) is an internet-scale cloud services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services that can be used individually or together. Azure’s flexible and interoperable platform can be used to build new applications to run from the cloud or enhance existing applications with cloud-based capabilities. Its open architecture gives developers the choice to build web applications, applications running on connected devices, PCs, servers, or hybrid solutions offering the best of online and on-premises.

 

Q: Is the Azure Services Platform one, single product or several product offerings combined into one?

 A: The Azure Services Platform is a cohesive platform which consists of multiple technologies that can be used individually or in combination with other Azure Services Platform components, other Microsoft services-based Applications or technology that resides outside of Microsoft’s datacenter.

The Azure Services Platform provides multiple cloud services that can each be used independently or in combination. It is a new cloud computing platform that enables developers to build the next wave of applications spanning the PC, mobile devices and the Web. Powerful new Microsoft tools and technologies available to developers will bring to life rich user experiences across a broad range of both business and consumer scenarios.

 

Q: What are the different components and services that make up the Azure Services Platform?

 A: The Azure Services Platform is built on the Windows Azure foundational layer. Windows Azure is an operating system in the cloud. Windows Azure provides service hosting, service management, scalable storage and a development environment for the Azure Services Platform. The Azure Service Platform included:

-          SQL Services for relational data storage and querying

-          .NET Services for service-connectivity, workflow, and messaging

-          Live Services for application extension of the Windows Live platform

-          SharePoint Services which provide extensibility for SharePoint Server

-          Dynamics CRM Services which provide extensibility for Dynamics CRM

 

Q: Who should consider using the Azure Services Platform?

A: The Azure Services Platform is a great solution for anyone who wants to build highly scalable and available cloud-based solutions. Microsoft expects the Azure Service Platform to appeal particularly to:

-          Large enterprises and ISVs who need to extend existing on-premises applications to the cloud to increase scalability, reliability, and interoperability while reducing costs and management overhead.

-        Web 2.0 developers and small ISVs who want to take advantage of a rich, highly versatile Web-based platform to build scalable, available applications for the web.

-          Hobbyists and students who want a platform that provides an easy way to start developing Web-based applications.

Q. Why did you pick the name Azure for your new platform offering?

A. As a word, Azure offers the promise of a better experience. The sky is azure colored – which is open, limitless, etc. – so it supports the concept of vast capacity and flexibility. Azure is a vibrant and dynamic color. It’s uplifting. Azure is also linked to the image of the blue sky and, by extension, ‘the cloud.’ Before making the decision we spoke to broad range of software developers, IT managers consumers around the world to understand their associations with the word “azure” and the response was almost universally positive.

 

Q: How does virtualization play into the Azure Services Platform story?

 A: The Azure Services Platform is an inherently virtualized environment which enables Microsoft to offer capacity to customers that scales with the needs of the application or service. Cloud services, when employed alongside other core technology capabilities such as virtualization (for on-premises resource flexibility) and modeling (to speed up development and lower costs of maintenance), will result in dramatic benefits for IT.

 

Q: Will Microsoft employ standards to ensure portability across multiple clouds?

 A: Microsoft will consume, drive and promote standards in a variety of areas.

 

Q: How does Windows Azure ensure that the environment and services are always available?

 A: Windows Azure is designed from the ground up to be a fault-tolerant platform. Innovative technology called the Fabric Controller ensures that service availability is not affected even if individual servers fail. The Fabric Controller technology also makes it possible for developers to upgrade their application without any service interruption.

 

Q: How does Windows Azure scale?

 A: The innovative Fabric Controller technology in Windows Azure enables developers to scale applications seamlessly, as demand rises and falls.

 

Q: What is the Windows Azure Fabric Controller?

 A: The Windows Azure Fabric is a scalable hosting environment built on geographically distributed Microsoft data centers. The Windows Azure Fabric Controller manages resources, load balancing, and the service lifecycle based on requirements established by the developer. The Fabric Controller deploys the service and manages upgrades and failures to maintain availability.

 

Q: What are some of the innovations that Windows Azure is based on?

 A: The Windows Azure Hypervisor and the Fabric Controller technology are two examples of innovations surfacing in Windows Azure. Windows Azure’s hypervisor is an efficient hypervisor that has been tuned for optimal performance for the cloud design point. It utilizes hardware advances like SLAT to achieve great efficiencies. Based on our experience of running large datacenters, we developed the Fabric Controller technology that optimizes Windows Azure as a cloud services operating system. The Fabric Controller technology manages resources, load balancing, and the service lifecycle in the scalable hosting environment in Microsoft data centers. The Fabric Controller deploys the service and manages upgrades and failures to maintain availability.

David Sedaris, the Presidential Election, and Why I'm Taking a Stand.

Now, I'm not really one to voice my opinion on my blog about politics. I am fine discussing my political views among friends and family or even in a group, but since this blog is meant to be pretty lighthearted, focused on technology and some random happenings in my life, I tend to keep it that way.

That said, however, I am at the point where I really think that this election could go down in global history as one of the stupidest decisions Americans have ever made. Instead of going on to rant about Sarah Palin and the cost of her outfits (I save that for Twitter) or the general issue that our country is in fact facing one of the greatest financial crisis’ it's seen in over 75 years, I am going to leave you with a little something to read.

I turned to read The New Yorker today and found a great article that really put it in perspective for me. Not only was the article pretty straightforward and made me laugh a bit, but it was from one of my all time favorite authors, David Sedaris.

Here's the link to it, but in summary, here are a few paragraphs from the story that really hammer home a great message:

I don’t know that it was always this way, but, for as long as I can remember, just as we move into the final weeks of the Presidential campaign the focus shifts to the undecided voters. “Who are they?” the news anchors ask. “And how might they determine the outcome of this election?”

Then you’ll see this man or woman— someone, I always think, who looks very happy to be on TV. “Well, Charlie,” they say, “I’ve gone back and forth on the issues and whatnot, but I just can’t seem to make up my mind!” Some insist that there’s very little difference between candidate A and candidate B. Others claim that they’re with A on defense and health care but are leaning toward B when it comes to the economy.

I look at these people and can’t quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention?

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

I mean, really, what’s to be confused about?

That's all from me on this topic. Enjoy your David Sedaris for the day. /LC

Introducing Microsoft's Web Platform - It's just the beginning...

Yesterday we launched a new website for web developers and professionals, www.microsoft.com/web. Additionally, we've streamlined the entire download experience for obtaining the Microsoft Web stack, with our new Microsoft Web Platform Installer(WebPI, as we call it).

What does this mean? Well, a few things. These are small changes by industry standards, but it's a shift in the right direction for many reasons.

First, we've made it easier for developers and hosters to download and configure the web stack. We've recognized the fact that in the past, it wasn't easy for developers to actually obtain the stack - you had to go to several different websites, Google search for the right products and versions, and then attempt to configure them together for download. Frankly, the process was awful (I went through this experience when I came onboard to MSFT, and got too frustrated to even complete the download). So, with the Web PI, developers and hosters alike no longer have this issue.

The WebPI overview states:"The Web Platform Installer Beta (Web PI) provides a single, free package for installing and configuring Microsoft's entire Web Platform, including IIS7, Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition, SQL Server 2008 Express Edition and the .NET Framework. Using the Web Platform Installer’s simple user interface, you can select specific components or install the entire Microsoft Web Platform onto your computer. To help you stay up-to-date with product releases, the Web Platform Installer always contains the most current versions and new additions to the Microsoft Web Platform."

Second, we've soft-launched a new site, Microsoft.com/web.This is a very early version of the site, but the site itself is a content aggregator for everything web. So, for instance, if you're a developer, designer, or business focused, you can all go to one site to get great information on what's happening right now with web development and strategy. The content isn't *quite* where we need it to be yet, but you'll be seeing improvements over the next few weeks on this. Also, we'd like your feedback on the site.

Third (and to give you a bit of the inside scoop), we're working with our product groups to make sure that the product we're putting out the door is the RIGHT product out there, and affordable (or free) for web developers. We've been meeting with a variety of different teams around this - and I'll have more to talk about here as things progress.

What are we gearing up for? Well, let's just say something bigger. We've gotten lots of feedback about how the Microsoft Web Platform needs to be more interoperable with other languages, applications, and such, as well as provide turn-key and simple solutions for businesses wanting to get up on the web. You can expect to see a some announcements in the next few weeks about how we're delivering this for developers. I can't say much more, but it's definitely a step in the right direction for Microsoft, and I'm really excited about our new focus on making web development easier for not just .NET developers, but developers overall.

Please let us know what we can be doing better - as always, [email protected] for comments/suggestions/feedback - and we'll work to incorporate in what we can.

Cheers,/LC